I have lived in the UK for over 12 years, and one of the toughest parts about  being an expat is living far away from my friends and family. Although I have new friends and family, there are some people that are irreplaceable.

My best and closest friend in the world is Lizbeth, and she lives in Seattle. If you aren’t sure, Seattle is pretty far away from London (4,781 miles to be exact). I have only seen Lizbeth five times in the past 12 years. But luckily, we live in an age where email, iMessage, social media and Skype keep us in each other’s lives.

Now I have another way to keep in touch with Lizbeth. ZipCall is a service that allows you to make free phone calls to the USA and Canada from the UK. You can use it on your home phone or mobile – any phone that has free minutes. Every month I have spare minutes on my mobile that have been going to waste. But now I can use these minutes for chatting to my friends and family in the USA.

Lizbeth and I agreed that the quality of the call was terrific. No fuzziness or echoes. I love Skype, but it can be annoying when your call is dropped right in the middle of discussing a crisis (by crisis, I mean when we are discussing whose husband is the most  slovenly). I will be using ZipCall regularly now. It’s nice knowing that I can stay close to my loved ones, despite the distance.

*Photo credit: my six-year old, Moozles

This is a sponsored post, but all opinions and words are my own.